@fao rne Students from Hassan Abu Bakar Secondary School of Languages with their teachers during the visit.

27 March, 2016 / Cairo -- FAO Regional Office for the Near East and North Africa concluded its celebrations of the International Day of forests and the World Water Day, by hosting 30 students from Hassan Abu Bakr official languages secondary school, from Qaliubiya governorate where they were briefed on FAO sustainable development goals and its efforts to eradicate poverty, hunger and water scarcity.

In a welcoming note on behalf of Mr. Pasquale Steduto, Deputy Regional Representative and FAO Representative in Egypt, Mr. Toni Attel, Program coordinator at FAO Regional Office, said: "FAO is seeking to establish better standards for the sustainable management of natural resources and maintain it for future generations, especially water resources and forests, through cooperation with government agencies, as well as work to reduce wasted food and water through the use of simple mechanisms to raise awareness across many educational and awareness programs".

Mr. Ettel highlighted FAO goals and strategic plans to achieve sustainable development, while the Regional Communication Office displayed a video, produced on the celebration of 70 years on the founding of FAO, which summarizes FAO’s work in Egypt and the region.

To highlight the importance of forests; Mr. Abdul Hamid Adam, FAO Regional Forestry expert delivered a presentation to the students on the priceless ecological, economic, social and health benefits of forests. Mr. Adam reiterated the importance of forests in minimizing the emission of carbon dioxide that increase the temperature.

Speaking about opportunities, Mr. said that Egypt has a great opportunity to increase its tree cover more than 1% and making the country more greener for the benefit of the new generations.

FAO was keen to raise awareness on forests among the students by showing FAO’s official documentary about forestry and water.

FAO RNE wrapped up a week full of activities to mark the International Day for the forests and the World Water Day, which convene on 21 and March 22 of each year in order to raise awareness of the importance of forests and water.

One of the main activities carried out by FAO regional office this week was planting 70 trees in 6^th of October City in collaboration with the New Urban Communities Authority, and the Ministry of agriculture and land reclamation, in the presence of a number of officials.

FAO participated as well at the regional celebration of the World Water Day 2016, organized by the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in the presence of representatives from ILO and UNESCO, in addition to the faculty and students from Alexandria university. The celebration included the regional launch of this year’s multi agencies’ edition of the World Water Development Report (WWDR-2016) under the theme of “Water and Jobs”.

Finally, FAO hosted 60 students from the Faculty of Agriculture at Cairo University, to commemorate the International Day of Forests that is held under the moto “ Forests and Water”. The students were introduced to FAO’s Strategic Objectives; the newly adopted Sustainable Development Goals; and FAO’s role for the eradication ofHunger, Poverty and Water Scarcity.